בַּֽעֲלַת־אוֹב a woman that hath a soothsaying spirit, 1 S 28; cf. Na 3; in the plural, e.g. בַּֽעֲלֵי חִצִּים archers, Gn 49, בַּֽעֲלֵי בְרִית confederates, Gn 14; בַּֽעֲלֵי שְׁבוּעָה sworn supporters, Neh 6.
[v] (c) Of בֶּן־, &c.: בֶּן־חַ֫יִל a hero, warrior, 1 K 15; בֶּן־מֶ֫שֶׁק heir, Gn 15; בֶּן־שָׁנָה yearling, Ex 12, &c.; בֶּן־מְאַת שָׂנָה centum annos natus, Gn 21; בֶּן־מָ֫וֶת worthy to die, 1 S 20 (Luther, 2 S 12 ein Kind des Todes); cf. Dt 25 בִּן־הַכּוֹת worthy to be beaten. Feminine, e.g. בַּת־בְּלִיַּ֫עַל a wicked woman, 1 S 1; frequently also אִישׁ בְּלִיַּ֫עַל, בְּנֵי ב׳, אַנְשֵׁי ב׳ and even simply בְּלִיַּ֫עַל, like the Latin scelus for scelestissimus, 2 S 23, Jb 34. Plural masculine, e.g. בְּנֵי מֶ֑רִי children of rebellion, Nu 17. בֶּן־ is used poetically of things without life, e.g. Is 5 בֶּן־שָׁ֫מֶן a fat, i.e. a fruitful (hill); Jon 4 בִּן־לַ֫יְלָה i.e. grown in a night; Jb 41 son of the bow (i.e. an arrow); so also בְּנֵי רֶשֶׁף = sparks, Jb 5; La 3; בְּנוֹת Ec 12 the daughters of song, probably meaning the individual notes.
There is another use of בֶּן־ or בְּנֵי to denote membership of a guild or society (or of a tribe, or any definite class). Thus בְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים or בְּנֵי הָֽאֱלֹהִים Gn 6, 4, Jb 1, 2, 38 (cf. also בְּנֵי אֵלִים ψ 29, 89) properly means not sons of god(s), but beings of the class of אֱלֹהִים or אֵלִים; בְּנֵיֽ־הַנְּבִיאִיס 1 K 20 (singular in Am 7) persons belonging to the guild of prophets; בֶּן־הָֽרַקָּתִים Neh 3 one of the guild of apothecaries, cf. 3:31 where בֶּן־הַצֹּֽרְפִים is to be read. Similarly בְּנֵי שִׁלֵּשִׁים Gn 50 are most probably not great-grandsons but grandsons, i.e. those belonging to the third generation. Cf. also בְּנֵי הַגֵּֽרְשֻׁנִּי Nu 4 f. Gershonites, בְּנֵי הַקְּהָתִים 2 Ch 20, &c., Kohathites; בְּנֵי קֶ֫דֶם dwellers in the East.
[w] 3. Special mention must be made of the not infrequent idiom by which adjectives (sometimes also ordinals, see § 134 o) are added in the genitive, like substantives, rather than as attributes in the same state, gender, and number as the noun which they qualify; thus, Is 28 צִיצַת נֹבֵל the flower of that which fades, for which verse 1 has צִיץ נֹבֵל the fading flower; cf. further, Is 22, Jer 22 (?), 52:13, ψ 73, 74 (but אֵיתָן may be a substantive), 78:49; also the use of רַע as a substantive, e.g. in Pr 2 b, 6:24 (אֵ֫שֶׁת רַע), &c., analogous to the New Testament phrase ὁ οἰκονόμος τῆς ἀδικίας, Luke 16:8, and the French un homme de bien.[1]—Finally, an adverb (treated as a substantive) may likewise be used as an epexegetical genitive; cf. דְּמֵי חִנָּם blood shed without cause, 1 K 2; Pr 24, 26; Ez 30 (יוֹמָם).
[x] 3. The epexegetical genitives include finally the numerous nearer definitions which follow the coustruct state of adjectives (and of active and passive participles, or verbal adjectives, cf. § 116 f–l). For, while the word of nearer definition is added to the verb in the accusative (e.g. חָלָה אֶת־רַגְלָיו he was diseased in his feet, 1 K 15), it may, with participles and verbal adjectives, be either in the accusative
- ↑ On the other hand, in such passages as Is 36 (2 K 18), Zc 14, Ec 8, &c., there is no apparent reason why the Masora requires the construct state instead of the absolute; hence חֵיל Is 36 and גֵּיא Zc 14 must be intended as forms of the absolute state, shortened in consequence of their close connexion.
